diff --git a/litellm/__init__.py b/litellm/__init__.py
index 3b8e2a20a96..8a1f40514da 100644
--- a/litellm/__init__.py
+++ b/litellm/__init__.py
@@ -647,7 +647,7 @@ dashscope_models: Set = set()
 moonshot_models: Set = set()
 publicai_models: Set = set()
 darkbloom_models: Set = set()
-tokenlab_models: Set = set()
+tokenlab_models: Set = set()  # mutable-ok: populated while loading the static model registry
 v0_models: Set = set()
 morph_models: Set = set()
 lambda_ai_models: Set = set()
diff --git a/litellm/litellm_core_utils/get_llm_provider_logic.py b/litellm/litellm_core_utils/get_llm_provider_logic.py
index b990dc3febb..06ee0416710 100644
--- a/litellm/litellm_core_utils/get_llm_provider_logic.py
+++ b/litellm/litellm_core_utils/get_llm_provider_logic.py
@@ -345,7 +345,8 @@ def get_llm_provider(
                         dynamic_api_key = get_secret_str("WANDB_API_KEY")
                     elif endpoint == "https://api.tokenlab.sh/v1":
                         custom_llm_provider = "tokenlab"
-                        dynamic_api_key = get_secret_str("TOKENLAB_API_KEY")
+                        tokenlab_config: Final = JSONProviderRegistry.get("tokenlab")
+                        dynamic_api_key = get_secret_str(tokenlab_config.api_key_env) if tokenlab_config else None
                     elif endpoint == "https://pinstripes.io/v1":
                         custom_llm_provider = "pinstripes"
                         dynamic_api_key = get_secret_str("PINSTRIPES_API_KEY")